FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT ENFORCEMENT DIRECTORATE - PAGE 5

PANAJI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) will hold a special camp here later this week for speedy disposal of cases relating to about 200 NRIs and PIOs who have purchased properties in Goa in alleged violation of foreign exchange rules. Officials said the one-day camp will be held at the ED office here on December 26 and the agency's Special Director (West) S W Naqvi will come down from Mumbai to meet Non-Resident Indians and Persons of Indian Origin to initiate proper action to dispose of these cases quickly.

NEW DELHI: Senior IAS officer Rajan S Katoch today took over as Heavy Industries Ministry Secretary . A 1979-batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, Katoch has been heading the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Finance Ministry for over two years. A senior official said Katoch took charge at his new office in the morning. He will be keeping the charge of ED chief in additional capacity till a new Director is appointed by the government. Incumbent Secretary in the Heavy Industries department Sutanu Behuria retired yesterday.

NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) today slapped a show cause notice on Sahara group for alleged violations of foreign exchange laws to the tune of Rs 3,600 crore in connection with the purchase of a luxury property in London few years back. Official sources said the agency issued the notice after about two-year-long investigation in the case which pertain to the purchase of Grosvernor House hotel in London, a luxury property, by transfer of funds from India by the group in 2010.

NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached land worth Rs 67 crore in connection with its money laundering probe into the operations of the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL). Initiating action in this case after a long time, the agency has seized 170 acres of land assets of a Punjab-based defaulting firm M/s Ark Imports Private Limited. The group is based in Ludhiana and the attachments have been done by the ED zonal office in Mumbai. "The assets have been seized under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The market value of the attached land is about Rs 67 crore," sources in the agency said.

NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister's Office has given a nod to questioning of Puducherry Lt Governor Iqbal Singh by the Enforcement Directorate for his alleged links with suspected money launderer Hasan Ali Khan. Sources said the clearance was given when the file seeking such permission reached the PMO. They said that governors enjoy immunity only in matters relating to discharge of their constitutional duties and "in this case, there was no need for a permission from the PMO. " Home Minister P Chidambaram had said yesterday his ministry was working out modalities for recording the statement of the Lt Governor before the ED. "The LG is willing to make a statement to the Enforcement Directorate," he had said after a meeting with Singh.

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has confiscated assets worth over Rs 593 crore in the last two years during its probe into various cases of money laundering and forex violations laws. "Enforcement Directorate has registered 1993 cases under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act , 1999 in the last two years and property of 103 persons valued at Rs 2406.28 lacs (more than Rs 24 crore) was seized, during investigation. "Similarly, ED has registered 396 cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and during investigation, property of 58 persons valued at Rs 56965.32 lacs (more than Rs 569 crore)

KOLKATA: The Enforcement Directorate , probing the Rose Valley ponzi scam , will probe the funding route of lawyers who were appearing on behalf of the company in the courts. "We are going to start probing how the lawyers appearing on behalf of Rose Valley Group are being paid since most of the accounts have been sealed," a source in the directorate told the media. He said that the directorate would probe whether the lawyers were being paid through the "normal methods or through clandestine channels because the money is collected from crime proceeds which the department is tracking".

NEW DELHI: IN what could turn out to be the biggest attachment of properties in a money laundering case , the appellate tribunal established under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, is hearing a plea of enforcement directorate (ED) to confirm the provisional attachment of properties, bank accounts etc worth Rs 223 crore of five real estate companies, including DB Realty . The directorate's provisional attachment is in connection with an alleged bribe of Rs 209 crore paid to Kalaignar TV, a finance ministry official with the full knowledge of the matter told ET. The television company owned by DMK chief M Karunanidhi's family maintained it was a loan, and according to ED's 2,000-page complaint to the tribunal, an interest of Rs 14 crore too was added when the money was returned, said the official in the condition of anonymity.

NEW DELHI: Market regulator Sebi , as well as other agencies such as the Enforcement Directorate and the Income-tax department are also likely to examine alleged duty evasion by companies of the Adani Group after receiving references from the agency investigating the matter, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), said two senior official aware of the matter. The DRI issued a show cause notice on Thursday a day ahead of the elections results and on the day finance minister P Chidambaram checked out of North Block.

PANAJI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials in Goa have booked five people, who were found to be involved in smuggling gold, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act . Cases have been booked against Shaikh Mohammad Javid and Prakash Manotgi (both from Goa) and Mohammad Saleem Musba, Imtiyaaz Hussain as well as Mohammad Asif (from Karnataka), an ED press note said today. The accused were arrested by the Air Intelligence Unit of the Customs Department during a raid on July 7, which had yielded 19.49 kg of gold worth Rs 5 crore from Manotgi, who worked as Air India's a ground staff, the press note said.